Safety-clutch for elevators.



PATENTED JAN. '7, 1908.

al .w wine@ M M. C. HUTGHINGS. SAFETY CLUTCH FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, 1907.

W/TNESSES 1H: nomas Fzrzks co., wAsHlNaroN. D. c.

MARVIN O. HUTCIIINGS, OF BOZEMAN, HONTANA.

SAFETY-CLUTCH FOR ELEVATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. '7, 1908.

Application filed May 28, 1907. Serial No. 376.090.

To all rwhom it lmay concern:

Be it known that I, MARVIN C. IlUren- INGs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bozeman, in the county of Gallatin and State of Montana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety- Olutches for Elevators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a passenger or mineelevator with a very simple form of clutch device, that will act instantly and automatically to stop the car 0r cage the moment the hoisting cable parts, and also to so construct the clutch mechanism that it will safely hold the car stationary until the cable is repaired and draft tension is again applied thereto, at which time the clutch will automatically release,

It is a further purpose of the invention to provide a clutch of the character described that will be very strong, positive in its action, and readily adjustable to any type of elevater shaft.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be. had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the -ligures. y

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the guideways for an elevator, parts being broken away, and a similar view of an elevator cage or car, showing the improved clutch applied and out of action; Fig. 2 is a view similar to that shown in Fig. 1, but illustrates the hoist rope as broken and the clutch in action 5 and Fig. 8 is a horizontal section taken practically on the line 3*.'3 of Fig. 2.

The guideways for the car or cage A, as is shown in the drawings, consist of upright timbers 10 connected at the top by a cross timber 11. In the inner faces of the upright timbers 10 longitudinal grooves are produced extending practically from end to end, and in the groove of each of said upright timbers 10 a channel iron 12 is fitted, and the said channel irons extend out at their open portions beyond the inner 'faces of the upright timbers 1() and are contracted, is shown in Fig. 3, at such extending portions to form check guides 13. A plate 14 is .itted in the enlarged portion of each channel iron 12 and each plate 1.4 is provided upon its inner face,

or the face which is Opposite the open portions of the channel irons, with a series of teeth 15, best shown in Fig. 1, which teeth are [lat or horizontal at their upper portions, and from said portions are downwardly and outwardly inclined.

The cage or car A illustrated, is provided with a wire mesh 1G upon three sides, and a wire mesh 17 at the top, and this portion of the car is supported upon the bottom 1S, which bottom 18 in its turn is connected at its corner portions with standards 19 of any suitable material, metal being preferably employed, and the said standards or corner irons 19 of the framework for the car or cage A, are carried up some distance beyond the top portion of the car proper, as is best illustrated in Figs. 1v and 2. v

Just above the inclosure of the car formed by the nettingl or mesh 16 and 17, top sills 2() are secured in any suitable or approved manner to the upright or corner irons 19, and upon the central sill 20, a guide bar 21 is attached in any approved manner, and the ends of the said guide bar 21 are bi'furcated to receive the contracted portions of the channel irons 12, and the said guide bar at the said bifurcated ends is provided also with outwardly extending flanges which engage with the inner .faces of the uprighttiinbers of the guide ways, as is shown in Fig. 3, forming thereby guide shoes 22 at the ends of the said guide bar 21, and said guide bar 21 at its central portion is provided with an upwardly extending lug 23.

The upper portion of the main frame of the car or cage consists of front, rear and side bars 24, one of which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, that connect the corner irons 19, and at the side portions of this upper connecting section of the main ,frame of the car, guide shoes 25 are formed. similar to the shoes 22 hereinbefore described and operating in the same manner, as is illustrated in Figs. 1 and L. An auxiliary frame A is provided at the upper portion of the main frame for the clevator car or cage. This auxiliary frame A consists of an upper arched member 26 and downwardly extending side members 27, the lower portions 27*L of which are bifurcated, and the side members 27, together with their bifurcated continuations 27l engage with the contracted portions of the channel irons l2. Guides 2S are secured to the contracted portions of the said channel irons 12 to prevent lateral movement of the said auxiliary frame A, as is also shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A cross bar 29 is made to extend from one side member 27 of the auxiliary frame A', to the other, and at the central portion of. this cross bar an eye' 30 is produced, and the upper arched member 26 of the auxiliary frame A is connected with the forward and rear upper connecting bars 24 of the main frame for the cage or car by suitable braces 31, and a vertical recess 32 is produced in the upper central portion of the aforesaid arched frame member 26, as is particularly shown in Fig. 1.

A draft bar B is made to slide in the aforesaid eye 30, the draft bar being vertically located, and extends up to an engagement with one side of the arched frame member 26 at the recess 32. The lower end 33 of this draft bar is wider than its remaining portion, and the said draft bar is provided at its upper end with an offset clevis top 34 that has sliding movement in the recess 32 of the arched frame member 26. The clevis top or tip 34 of the draft bar B is attached to one end of the hoisting cable 35, and this hoisting cable 35 is passed over asuitable pulley 36 carried by the cross bar 11 of the guideways for the said car or cage, the other end of the hoisting cable being attached to any approved hoisting mechanism.

Links 37 in parallelism are pivotally attached to the lower end 33 of the draft bar B, and these links 37 are given normally a downward and outward inclination, and the links 37 at each side of the draft bar B are connected with a vertical clutch arm C, which clutch arms have movement by means of said links 37, to and from the teeth 15 carried by the upright timbers 10 of the guideways for the car, and to that end the said clutch arms are provided at their outer vertical edges with teeth 38, adapted for locking engagement with the aforesaid teeth 15, as is shown in Fig. 2, the two sets of teeth being shown out of engagement in Fig. 1. These clutch arms C are guided in their inward and outward movement by the members of the auxiliary frame A at the bifurcated portions 27d thereof. Links 39 are pivotally connected with the lowermost side links 37, and the said -links 39 are in their turn jointly pivoted to the lug 23 located on the guide bar 21. A pin 40 is passed through the upper portion of the draft bar B below the arched member 26 of the auxiliary frame A, and elliptical springs 41 have bearing against the upper suface of the said pin at its end portions, and the ends of the springs 41 are secured to pins 42 extending from opposite sides of the side members 27 of the auxiliary frame A.

In operation, as long as draft strain is on the hoisting cable 35 the draft bar B will be drawn upward to the position shown in Fig. 1, and will sustain the entire weight of the car or cage and its frame, and will have drawn the inner ends of the links 37 suificiently far upward to remove the clutch arms C from Vpossible engagement with the teeth 15 on the guideways for the car, as is shown in Fig. 1, thus permitting the car to move freely up or down, and at the same time the springs 41 are placed under tension. Should the hoisting cable 35 break, as is shown in-Fig. 2, the weight of the draft bar B and its connecting links, together with the action of the springs 41 will force the said draft bar to instantly drop, and in dropping the said bar will carry the clutch arms C outward to locking engagement with the teeth on the guideways for the car, thus holding the car stationary, and the car will remain so until the cable is repaired and draft strain is again brought to bear on the cable.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,-

The combination with an elevator shaft provided with toothed guideways, 'and a car or cage mounted for movement in the guideways, of a frame above the car, a draft bar mounted to slide in the frame, said draft bar being provided with a clevis at its upper end, a spring connected with the frame and exerting downward tension on the draft bar, toothed clutch arms having sliding and guided movement in the frame of the car to and from the teeth of the guideways, a pair of parallel links connecting each clutch arm with the draft bar, said links extending downwardly and outwardly from the draft bar, and supporting links pivotally connected to the lower links of each pair and having a common pivotal connection with the car or cage, whereby when the draft bar is moved downward, the clutch arms will engage with the teeth of the guideways.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MARVIN C. HUTCHINGS.

litnesses:

CHAs. A. SoHwAN, T. C. WARD. 

